Good
morning!What a joy to be with you
all today. It is a gift to be able to be here to preach, in my home community
that has been with me on my journey through so many twists and turns.Thank you!

In my current
adventure, I am helping start an alternative church called the Flame for the
both the lesbian gay bisexual and transgender community, and for our allies who
long for justice and inclusion.It
has been a fun and challenging journey.I’ve never started a church before, you know! I am inspired by the folks
in this very room who started the community of St. Andrew.

I’m also glad
to be asked to preach here today, on this first Sunday of Christmas, with such a
rich text in the Gospel of Luke.

Sometimes at
our little start-up church, the Flame, we re-enact the gospel readings, so that
we can hear different voices and listen for something new in the text. It can
also be quite fun!In lieu of that
this morning, I will instead ask you to picture it, Jerusalem, a long time
ago.A young teenage mother and her
partner, holding a baby who they will present to the Lord, as per custom.They are faithful, but also poor, which
is why they offer only two young pigeons, instead of a lamb. They are probably
very tired. Perhaps Jesus looks beatific. Perhaps he cries throughout, as we
have had some of our own wee ones do at this very font.

Cut to the
town, where there is a man called Simeon, who is a faithful servant of God.We often picture him as an old man. He
has been living with hope for redemption and liberation in the time of Roman
occupation and oppression. Perhaps he has undergone personal suffering too.He is attentive to the Spirit of God,
and is prompted that day to come to the temple, where he finds this young
family.He takes the child in his
arms and is transformed by this encounter with the young Messiah.Even though he doesn’t see anything
before him but a powerless infant and a poor family, he is moved deeply and
tells to God this trip to the temple was worth it.He says, “my eyes have seen your
salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for
revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”Simeon proclaims God’s vision for
redemption, which starts in Jerusalem, and extends to all.Even to us here.

But Simeon also
speaks a word of warning too: ”This child is destined for the falling and the
rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the
inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul
too.”

What does this
mean?Something that strikes me
this week is that everything didn’t get all hunky dory once Jesus came.He was born into poverty, fled as a
refugee into exile, and was killed at a relatively young age by those in power
in an effort to silence his scandalous talk of liberation and vision of God’s
abundant love.He rose again and
conquered death for us, but even today we still live in a world of poverty, of
refugees, of political violence and repression. We still live in a world where
we grieve our own inability to provide for our children the kind of sustainable
planet we dream of, where our friends are homeless and jobless and fighting
illness without enough insurance.We live in a world where we are longing for hope and looking for signs,
and dreaming of an end to sorrow and death.

We live in a
time in which Christianity seems divided against itself, as our country is.
Jesus is indeed the salvation prepared for all peoples, but we don’t all agree
on what that means or who is “all”.Some of us may also be wrestling with big questions, or facing the weight
of daily struggles.Though Simeon
proclaims God’s inclusive vision for redemption, he also foretells of the sword
that pierces many of our souls, as we wrestle with this truth in a midst of a
world of conflict, even within our own faith, or within our own hearts.

Tonight, at
midnight, we have a symbolic changing of the calendar, and rolling from 2017 to
2018 can feel like a fresh start. Many of us take this time to reflect, to make
resolutions and to examine our lives.We also as a culture tend to recap the previous year, compiling best-of
and worst-of lists for the year ending, and have dreams named or unspoken for
the new year. Big questions, daily struggles, the swords that pierce our hearts,
many of us are looking for signs of hope that leads to redemption, and longing
for consolation.

Mary has been
carrying the spark of hope in her since the angel came to tell her about
Jesus.She proclaimed it as
defiance in the words of the Magnificat. She has heard it echoed back to her by
Elizabeth and Zechariah, and the witness of the shepherds and the angels. Rabbi
Sharon Brous writes, “Hope is not naïve, and hope is not an opiate. Hope may be
the single greatest act of defiance against a politics of pessimism and a
culture of despair.” Mary is probably not surprised by Simeon’s joy at meeting
Jesus.But perhaps his dire
statement gives her pause.Perhaps
she has taken Jesus back into her arms to comfort and reassure herself.

Anna comes
over, and we hear a little about this remarkable woman, prophet and preacher,
who has spent much of her adult life serving God in the temple with fasting and
prayer.She sees the young Messiah
and comes over to the group.She
began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the
redemption of Jerusalem.She knew
there was something special happening here, she is changed by the moment.

One of our
traditions at the Flame is to lift up voices of people of color and queer
folks.I can hear an echo of Anna’s
proclamation in the poem, “Now the Work of Christmas Begins” by African-American
civil rights leader and theologian Howard Thurman.He writes:

When the song
of the angels is stilled,when the star in the sky is gone,when the kings
and princes are home,when the shepherds are back with their flocks,the
work of Christmas begins:to find the lost,to heal the broken,to feed
the hungry,to release the prisoner,to rebuild the nations,to bring
peace among the people,to make music in the heart.

As I ponder
today’s gospel, I have a few questions: Where do we hear the prompting of the
Holy Spirit?Where do we see
hope?What is the good news of
God’s redemption we are called to share? How does our encounter with Jesus
change us?

These are
pretty big questions with no easy answers. One of the things we do at the Flame
when we gather is go around the room, and each person shares their name, their
pronouns, and then a moment of joy, fun or laughter that they experienced in the
previous week.It is sometimes very
easy to think of something, but in the reality of life, it is also sometimes
very difficult.In those moments,
we try to find even the smallest moment of joy, such as a wonderfully flavored
cup of hot chocolate, or the way the sun hit the leaves on the walk to church.
Naming moments that bring us joy, fun or laughter can be a helpful practice. It
can remind us to look for these moments for which we can be grateful, these
moments which uplift us, especially when life is at its hardest.For me, those moments, and the laughter,
tears, and bonding we share when relating these anecdotes are a balm to the
soul.

Perhaps we can
do the same with the questions that rise from the text.Maybe we don’t have the deepest, best
answer, but we can find a small step into the conversation.Maybe we can develop a practice of 1)
listening for the prompting of the Holy Spirit, even in the unexpected, of 2)
looking for hope, even the smallest signs 3) praising God, even if we are mad at
God, and 4) sharing the news of liberation and redemption, even when it seems
the most difficult.[ticking
off on fingers] [1] listening for the Spirit. [2] finding hope. [3] praising
God. [4] telling others.I need
these reminders regularly, and this was a good Gospel text for me.I forget this especially when I’m
overtired, stressed out, overwhelmed, anxious, or not feeling well.Perhaps you can relate.But the promise is that God is in those
times too!

God is so
exuberantly in love with us, that God came to be born and live with us, and God
remains present --with us, when times are scary or good, painful or fun.

In this time
after Christmas Day, on this first Sunday of Christmas, we may be exhausted with
our wallets stretched thin and our hearts heavy with dread, or we may be well
rested with full pantries and joyful expectation for the New Year.Like Simeon, something prompted each of
us to come to be with this community today. Like Mary and Joseph, we hear words
spoken to those striving to be faithful in the midst of uncertainly, of new
beginnings and wonder, of loss and hardship. Like Anna, maybe we are finding
hope and love in our encounter with God, in the powerless infant, who meets us
at the table, and the font, and the cross, and community, and in all parts of
our lives.

The story of
Anna and Simeon meeting Jesus is not about finding a magic baby who will
suddenly grant all their wishes.They are not suddenly rich, thin, and popular after meeting this
infant.But they are changed
forever.They are called deeper
into their lives of discipleship, to proclaim the truth of God’s promise of
redemption, and to join in sharing the good news.

My New
Year’s Eve prayer for you is that you leave church this morning touched by the
encounter with God who meets us here, who meets us wherever we are, who calls us
to join in the liberation of God’s people, and who whispers to us, “You are
Beloved. Hope is Alive”